Speed thrills, and not necessarily kills

8226; Hope to keep working hard and hope that this team keeps playing the way it is because it makes my job that much easier. I am consciously not trying to force the speed gun too high. While in the past, I would just want to run in every day and break the speed record. Now I am just concentrating on putting the ball in the right spot. I am, sort of, over the speed thing now. I am still quick enough to hurry batsmen up. Maybe, Tait is going through what I went through and he is looking to break the record every time he steps on the field. Wickets are the main focus now.

So how do you rate Tait?

8226; He has more pace than I ever had. And obviously, he is young and strives for that extra yard all the time.

And he too has the desire to hit the helmets?

8226; Any fast bowler likes to see batsmen jumping around. But I don8217;t like hurting batsmen, not intentionally. Getting them uncomfortable, yes.

How much have the injuries affected your action? Have you had to change it a lot?

8226; After the injuries, the change in my action has been subtle. I think my action has become a little bit more refined. I am probably at my fittest ever. The basis of all my training has been to work with a boxing coach, the fitness training they do. It has taken my fitness to another level. Training for cricket alone is a lot harder than training for police work. I have worked very hard now and even if I finish now, I will not have any regrets.

What did you do during the injury break?

8226; I became a father for the first time and I was playing full-time dad.

Are you more happy to be an intimidating bowler of the past?

8226; No, I am still an intimidating bowler. My goal now is to win and to be a difficult bowler always. Every year, I try and make improvement in myself as a bowler. So I had done a lot of things and one of those is to be miserly. That is how you get the top order out 8212; by not giving runs.

What is the secret of bowling with the old ball?

8226; Nothing special, I am trying to bowl as straight as possible. You have to listen to the batsman and they have said that the toughest ball to hit is the one that is straight. So I am trying to put their ideas into practice. If you bowl straight you have the chance to hit the wicket or get an lbw verdict. I am a strike bowler and it is always nice to take wickets.

How is reverse swing a factor?

8226; I think it is less of a factor now because the umpires change the ball as soon it gets a bit discoloured. As soon as it starts to move, the batsman says that he can8217;t see the ball and the umpires change it. So I have one or two overs, but I don8217;t think it is as prodigious as it used be. There used to be massive reverse swing. There might be a little bit here but the batsmen practice so much hitting the ball out of the park at the end that change of pace and length are more important than reverse swinging.

Did you see Malinga bowl?

8226; I saw the highlights and it was pretty impressive. I have faced him and he is a tough customer. It is one thing seeing him and another thing trying to score runs off him. I suppose it is a different mindset. Usually, you watch the bowler8217;s hand coming up over the head. But here you end up looking at the umpire8217;s cheek and when he starts moving around on the crease you start wondering where to look. And I hate that when he does that laughs.

This tournament has lengthy breaks, what do you do away from the field?

8226; It8217;s been interesting specially after the experience of the World Cup in South Africa. There was a big media presence there and lots of shows on television. One was bombarded with a lot of World Cup information. But here we have stayed in resorts and don8217;t really read many newspapers or see any shows on television. I suppose as a team this helps you to get away from the pressures of cricket. Guys watch movies, play cards, play poker and as a player I like to watch all the games to get an idea about things.

Are you good at poker?

8226; I won a game today, am not too bad. There are guys in the team better than me. Craig McMillan is the top dog and Daniel Vettori and McCullum are probably the senior pros.

There is this laid back feel about your team?

8226; I think our coach John Bracewell has put in place a system. We have just gone ahead and trusted the system. We didn8217;t play well in Lanka and the tri-series in Australia, but throughout the period there was a real calmness in the team. We knew what we were doing and we could play better cricket. And we believed that we would kick into top gear. The best thing is we never hit the panic station and I think now we are getting the rewards of that calmness.